A terror suspect who claimed to be stateless following the Home Secretary’s decision to strip him of his British citizenship lost an appeal against her decision on Thursday. US court documents allege he was subject to US “illegal interrogation” in Africa.

Mahdi Hashi had his
citizenship stripped by Theresa May in 2012 on the grounds of
national security.

Shortly after, he filed an appeal at the Special Immigration
Appeals Commission (Siac) arguing May’s order had left him
without a state.

Under international human rights law, it is illegal for an
individual to be forced into such a predicament. Nevertheless, the court ruled
against Hashi's appeal, suggesting he could apply for a Somali
passport.

Hashi’s barrister strongly refutes this argument.

She says her client lost
his Somali citizenship when he became a UK national aged 14, and
has been madestateless by May’s decision.

Hashi, 25, is currently detained in a New York prison, where he
will be tried for alleged terror offences in February.
Thursday’s ruling, which
will be challenged by his legal representatives, is the most
recent development in a long and complex case.

Hashi was offered British citizenship in 1995, after he fled
Somalia with his family. He grew up in north London, and worked
as a carer in Camden.

During a trip to Somalia
in the summer of 2012, the 25-year-old was informed his British
citizenship would be revoked.

The order, sent by May, stated: “The Security Service assess
that you have been involved in Islamicist extremism [sic] and
present a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom due
to your extremist activities.”

Hashi was arrested in Djibouti soon after he received the order.
As he was abroad at the
time, he had 28 days to appeal the decision. He reportedly made
no attempt to do so.

Hashi's lawyers have long argued this time limit should be
subject to an extension. But the court rejected this argument on
Thursday.

The court also ruled arguments relating to statelessness were
uncertain, and Hashi could not “demonstrate that he has a
strong case” in this context.

Mahdi Hashi, from Camden, still stateless in solitary in New
York, after torture and rendition, ignored by Britain: http://t.co/E8nT3nsXPs

Previously under UK law, it was illegal to strip an individual of
their British citizenship if such a move rendered them stateless.
But the British
Nationality Act, which relates to such cases, was amended in the
summer of 2014.

Following the
legislative shift, it became legal to revoke a person's UK
citizenship whether such a measure rendered them stateless or
not.

According to the Bureau
of Investigative Journalism, American court documents filed by
Hashi’s US lawyer said the 25-year-old was detained in
a“secret Djiboutian
facility under extremely harsh conditions,”and wasforced to
endure “illegal interrogation”by American intelligence
agents.

Hashi alleges he was threatened with sexual and physical abuse
and subsequently “strongly encouraged” to cooperate with
US interrogators before being taken to New York, the court documents reveal.

The former British citizen was secretly held for five weeks in
the US before the charges levelled against him were publicized.

Hashi has been detained in solitary confinement for over two
years. He is accused of
being a member of African terror group al Shabaab, but strongly
denies the allegations.As a result of being kept in
solitary confinement, his communication with British lawyers has
been inhibited.

Last November, a Muslim convert stripped of his British citizenship by May for
alleged extremism launched an appeal to the Supreme Court to
overturn her decision on the grounds it would render him
stateless. May deployed
her powers to withdraw his nationality after MI5 warned he posed
a threat to Britain’s national security.

In the past eight years, the UK government has stripped almost 30
people of their citizenship on the supposed grounds that their
presence in Britain countered the public interest.